Gilt Groupe provides invitation-only access to highly coveted products and experiences at insider prices. Each day, Gilt offers its members a curated selection of merchandise, including apparel, accessories and lifestyle items across the women’s, men’s and children’s categories. In addition, we provide the best in home decor and entertaining essentials, along with luxury travel packages and fantastic offers on local services and experiences. Most sales start at noon ET and last only 36 hours, making Gilt.com an exclusive shopping destination for luxury at up to 70% off.Gilt is a website that I religiously check -- we're talking every day, sometimes more than once a day. I get emails of the latest sales sent to my phone and check them as soon as I have computer access. It's definitely my favorite site for discount clothing, over the other ones that I check regularly, mainly HauteLook and RueLaLa.
When I log onto Gilt Groupe, I'm immediately taken to the women's clothing and accessory page. It's straightforward and presents a drop down menu at the very top, with the various categories: women, men, children, etc. The viewer can set their Gilt homepage to whatever category they want -- mine is set to women's. Just below that is a big visual: the main event of the day. Here's an idea of what the main page looks like:
Directly below the main event are the other events of the day.
The visuals on the site are extremely vibrant and immediately draw the viewer in. Even if I don't know the brand, I'm captivated and click "Go" because I'm drawn in by the opening images. All the images are set against a black back drop so each photo stands out and the viewer isn't distracted by a loud background. My eye is automatically drawn to the brighter images and after glancing over those, I follow the site left to right, top to bottom. Each image also has a "Go" icon that you can click on and it takes you to the sale for that brand.
The site is extremely straightforward. It shows the original price, the sale price, an image of the item, and the choice to click on the image and view it from different angles. There's no extra add-ons or advertisements on the sides of the site like many others, so the viewer can focus on the products rather than be distracted by meaningless side bars. In terms of the site's content, each brand has about 40 items, some a little less, some a lot more. There's a broad range of tops, dresses, bottoms, shoes, and bags -- pretty much something for every kind of shopper. And there's men's and children's clothing, items for your home, even discount travel like hotels. This site can appeal to the working class, families, those who love to travel, or someone just looking for a nice gift.
I think Gilt is extremely easy to find my way around, even when I was new to the site. It can appeal to a broad range of people - not just women who are stereotypically into fashion. I love the simplicity of the background with extremely vibrant images that draw the viewer in and I plan to take note of this effective layout for my own website.
I'm not sure if it's the fact Gilt Groupe, for lack of a better word, spams my inbox, but I, too, find myself regularly on their website. And, like you, I am always satisfied. What I love about the site is that it's so easy to navigate. The lack of advertisements on the site make it so much less distracting than other clothing websites that I regularly check. I think that Gilt Groupe's website does an amazing job allowing users to personalize the site. By recognizing purchases and past history, my page, like McKenna's, brings me straight to the women's section. From there, I'm able to narrow down what I'm looking for, whether it be dresses, accessories, shoes, etc. As McKenna pointed out in her post, everything is so basic. There's the image (with a few different angles), the price, a short description, and the option to buy it.
ReplyDeleteGilt Groupe does a great job luring users in. I've noticed that the models on the site have one thing on their body that pops out, whether it be a bright colored article of clothing or bright colored lipstick. The simplicity of the image plus the pop of color immediately draws me in to the item being sold on the site.
When it comes to websites, I'm huge on easy navigation and basic visual design- two elements that Gilt Groupe provides. It's a website that I think a lot of other fashion and clothing websites should use as a model.